WELCOME TO POLITICO PRO’s Morning Health Care: Happy Tuesday and Happy Bastille Day to French readers in the Brussels bubble! Thanks to Ellis Kim and Peter O’Donnell for input.

MINISTERS PAN JUNKER’S GMO BID: The Commission’s controversial pitch to give member states more power to “opt out” of using GMOs in food and feed approved in other states got a frosty reception from ag ministers on Monday in their first formal meeting on the topic. Many want an impact assessment to see if the idea meshes with the WTO and internal market principles. Here’s a sampling:

“You have endeavored to the best of your ability to defend this indefensible proposal,” the agricultural rep from Austria told health chief Vytenis Andriukaitis. “It is a tactical folly that has been launched by the commission.”

Andriukaitis had earlier defended the proposal, calling it a “balanced solution,” in which the Commission would “still be in charge.” Read it here: http://bit.ly/1IVtw1w

Reps for Hungary, Latvia and Croatia did express some positive aspects of the Commission’s idea, but called for more specific legal guidelines and an impact assessment.

From the UK: “The single market is the core element of the European Union … We do not understand how member states could use these proposed powers in practice without compromising the integrity of the single market and WTO obligations.”

France: “We have very serious doubts about the legal basis of all of these provisions … we object to this legislative proposal, which for us is not useful, it’s impracticable, and is likely to bring together a large majority against it.”

— A DIALOGUE ON DRUG VALUE

LIMITED THERAPEUTIC BENEFIT OF DRUGS?: Calling all pharma lobbyists: Health NGOs WEMOS and EPHA will talk on Wednesday about whether new medicines always make patients better off. European Parliament studies have shown that the majority of medicines show little to no added therapeutic value compared to existing treatments. “This is cause for concern because it means that public money is being spent on new, costly medicines which have limited added therapeutic value, while urgently needed medicines such as antibiotics are failing to be developed,” says the invitation. The event will seek common ground “for ambitious policies” on the assessment of added therapeutic value of drugs in the EU. http://www.epha.org/a/6387

TALKING ABOUT A JOINT EXPERT COMMITTEE: One report prepared for Parliament, which looked at data from France, Italy, Austria, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden, recommends a European joint expert committee with delegates from member states, which would conduct relative efficacy and effectiveness studies of new medicinal products before any decisions on pricing is made at the national level.

TRANSPARENCY NEEDED: Stakeholders are consulted when it comes to pricing and reimbursement, the report said, including industry, practitioners, pharmacists, and patient organizations. This process, though, is not transparent, says the report. http://bit.ly/1BhYiQn

— MORE BUBBLES

THE COUNCIL SLAPS HEALTH-RELATED FINE ON SPAIN: Spain got hit with a fine of about €19 million for manipulating deficit data in the community of Valencia on Monday. The fine was related to not recording health expenditures and not respecting the principle of accrual by the regional audit office. The Commission earlier found serious negligence, which was reported then by the EU statistical office Eurostat. The misreporting stopped in 2012. http://bit.ly/1RuogYg

MINISTERS SHELVE REPORT ON SUGAR AND OBESITY IN UK: A government sponsored report on ways to cut down on obesity by limiting sugar, such as taxing sugary drinks or limiting two-for-one specials, has been shelved by ministers in the UK, the Guardian reports. Advocates are suspicious, calling it a “disgraceful decision” that backtracks on their claims to be working on the obesity crisis. http://bit.ly/1CAE6Km

AND DOCS WEIGH IN: Sugary drinks should be taxed at a 20 percent higher rate to tackle obesity, said the British Medical Association. The BBC has more: http://bbc.in/1HpIfgN

— GLOBAL BUGS

SOMBER WORDS ON EBOLA: Amid a new smattering of cases in West Africa, the UN envoy for the disease gave a somber prediction on Ebola, saying the epidemic has “not run its course and around 30 people are still getting infected each week.” Reuters reports: http://reut.rs/1RtInpo

— A SAY FOR PATIENTS AND DOCS AT EMA

The Commission is launching a selection procedure to appoint the four civil society representatives to the management board of the European Medicines Agency. Two members will represent patient groups, one member will represent doctors, and one will speak for veterinarians’ organizations. The term of office of the current members expires March 2016. Members are appointed for a renewable period of three years.

The Commission will draw up a list of candidates to send to the Council, which will then appoint the new members in consultation with the European Parliament. The deadline for submission of applications is on 20 September 2015. http://bit.ly/1Gh85BG

— DRUGMAKERS

PAY PACKAGES NOT BASED ON SALES, SIZE: FiercePharma reports that big pay packages are not linked to the size of the company in biopharma. Chiefs at Regeneron and Vertex top the list. Read more: http://bit.ly/1HqVZYv

GLAXO, FRANCIS CRICK INSTITUTE JOIN IN THE UK: The UK’s £700m biomedical complex being built at King’s Cross will house a public-private partnership between the Francis Crick Institute and GlaxoSmithKline, funded by the government, the FT reports. It’s part of a growing trend of drugmakers teaming with academia or small biotechs, the paper reports. http://on.ft.com/1HreUEX

— THE WEEK’S AGENDA

Tuesday

The Parliament’s development committee will discuss a report on the lessons learned from Ebola crisis. http://bit.ly/1Hfg6Ji

The EPP, S&D & the Greens/EFA will be talking about whether new medicines are always better for patients. http://bit.ly/1BhYiQn

Wednesday

The Council of the EU will hold a senior level meeting to discuss the next steps from last year’s Council conclusions on innovation for the benefit of patients, which health ministers signed in December last year.

The Parliament’s health committee will discuss a draft report on the possibility for the Member States to restrict or prohibit the use of GMOs on their territory. http://bit.ly/1CrXvwD

Thursday

Luxembourg’s health minister Lydia Mutsch will present the program of the Council Presidency at the Parliament’s health committee. http://bit.ly/1CrXvwD

The Parliament’s research committee will talk about the state of play of the EU research policy. Research Commissioner Carlos Moedas will be the honorary guest. http://bit.ly/1LYEQMm